Abstract
BackgroundPolyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as γ-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have cytotoxic action on glioma cells.ResultsWe evaluated the cytotoxic action of GLA, AA and DHA on glioma cells with specific reference to the expression of miRNAs. Relative expression of miRNAs were assessed by using high throughput nanocapillary real-time PCR. Most of the miRNA target genes that showed altered expression could be classified as apoptotic genes and were up-regulated by PUFA or temozolomide treatment, while similar treatments resulted in repression of the corresponding mRNAs, such as cox2, irs1, irs2, ccnd1, itgb3, bcl2, sirt1, tp53inp1 and k-ras.ConclusionsOur results highlight involvement of miRNAs in the induction of apoptosis in glioma cells by fatty acids and temozolomide.
Highlights
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as g-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have cytotoxic action on glioma cells
We investigated the effects of GLA, DHA and AA that are PUFAs
In order to differentiate specific responses to different PUFAs we analyzed the effect of temozolomide, which is an oral alkylating agent that is used for the treatment of brain tumors [23]
Summary
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as g-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have cytotoxic action on glioma cells. Our previous studies showed that certain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially g-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (AA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have tumoricidal action against glioma cells both in vitro and in vivo [3,4,5,6,7]. Several studies have used microarrays to study the effects of PUFAs on cell regulation, including their effects on brain function [9,10] and cancer [11,12], but only limited data is available as to how PUFAs can modulate the expression of microRNAs [12]. To date, no data is available as to the effect of different PUFAs on miRNA expression in glioblastoma cells
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